India Shining?Yes it is. Review on India, General

INDIA SHINING? YES IT IS

Yes India is definitely shining, whatever our professional whiners( read left/liberal/secular/socialist columnists) might say. Yes we have our own problems like unemployment, poverty, illiteracy etc. I ask so what? Let?s get real there is no Utopia anywhere in the world, for life itself is a melange of problems. And we need a strategy to fight the problem.

First of all lets stop comparing India with Western countries or countries like Japan, China etc. Most of the developed countries have a homogenous population( if u exclude UK and US), and they don?t have to face the night mare of issues which we have to overcome here. Urban vs rural, Dalit vs Upper Caste, Adivasis vs plain dwellers, North vs South, Hindi vs Non Hindi, Rich vs Poor. Yes as Naipaul suggested India is a land of million mutinies, but we are still intact as a nation. Consider what has happened in Europe, where Russia and then Yugoslavia split up sparking off bitter civil wars or the innumerable conflicts in the African nations, we have still managed to maintain our unity.

I remember a quote from a speech by Abdul Kalaam where he questions us why we don?t celebrate our succeses but whine over our failures. Success and failure is a part of a life, and we as a nation need to celebrate our successes.And yes that?s where the India Shining is coming through.

For me India Shines not because people are having more cellphones, cars, consumer goodies or air fares are cheap or the stock market is booming or Indian companies are going global. While as an Indian I am proud of these, for me there is a far more fundamental reason why I believe that India is really shining. And that is the attitude of the person on the street. Yes India has it?s problems, but many people are now joining to fight those problems, instead of just blaming it on Karma. For years politicians and bureaucrats have got away with incrdibly poor governance due to the apathy of the people, not any more is the message coming out.

People point to the IT revolution as an Indian success story. But who made this possible? Not the privileged sons and daughters of the rich and famous, its ordinary middle class Indians from small towns, cities and villages who toiled day and night for India to achieve this feat. Many of our liberal bleeding hearts keep cribbing day and night about how IT benefits only a section of our population. The rich people? Forget it, most of those who benefited were ordinary middle class Indians who came from very modest families. It was a passion, a zeal and willingnesss to sweat by these people that has seen India growing as an IT power. Also IT has been beneficial in many states like AP,MP, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu which have been succesful in implementing E-Governance.

There was an article some time back in Outlook, about how children from poor families are doing well in studies. And the most important point was their parents are actually encouraging them to study and saving their resources for the child?s education. Even a poor taxi driver who earns hardly 3000 a month is willing to scrimp and save to educate his child in a good school. This again shows where India is Shining.

Gone are the days when poor people would stop sending their children to schools. Now they encourage their children to study and do well in life. Who knows down the years, we could have an auto wallah?s son heading an MNC?

India is Shining because the people are changing. They are not content with tired old explanations being offered. And the change is being led by a young restless population who don?t hesitate to ask why. Governments and politicians are inefficent and corrupt anywhere in the world. Its only the people who can make a difference to the state of a nation. The above two are only some of the examples I have given to drive home the point that change can come only when people start demanding it. I end with an article by a Telugu poet ?Desamante Matti Kadoyi, Desamante Manushulu?. It means the country is not made of land, but of the people. Mera Bharat Mahaan